Hi Bill ...
Film seems to be doing just fine here. There's a nice-sized B&W only
lab
that's always busy with custom developing and printing - they don't
donk
around with digital, at least that was the case the last time I talked
with
the owner, a few labs that process and print film as well as work with
digi
and offer custom scanning services, Rob Reiter's LightRoom which does
a big
business in high-end scanning and giclee, and a couple of camera shops
that
are always busy selling film and accessories. And that's just in a
radius
of about a mile or so.
Mo was telling me that a lot of her customers who were shooting digital
have switched back to film - Kevin, who does the custom scanning, is
always
busy - can't recall a day I've been there when he's not been hard at
work
scanning somebody's film. Was just a couple-three weeks ago I was
watching
a photographer photograph the owner of the biggest local produce
market in
Berkeley for a magazine cover - shooting 6x6 with his 'blad. A client
of
mine who owns a commercial agency in San Francisco shoots nothing but
med-format and large format film, and San Francisco has quite a few
shops
that specialize in custom printing for photogs like my client.
One of the camera shops I visit is selling "Film is Not Dead" T-shirts
;-))
I think I grabbed a snap of the sample shirt hung on the wall just
below
the Moose head <LOL>
Digi shooters may need high quality printing of their images, at least
based on the results I've seen from the local Costco and Ritz camera.
Well, maybe not from a custom lab, but certainly from a competent one.
Chris, the top printer in the lab I use, has supposedly tweaked his
Frontier to allow for finer adjustments, and he's got a great eye for
color. I think those are important - certainly worthwhile -
considerations. Plus, this lab provides their own profiles which are
updated regularly. When I ask for proof prints, they're made with
different profiles so I can see if one may be preferable to another.
Usually the one I've used at home works great, but every now and then
printing with a different profile provides nicer results. This was
especially valuable this last time because I was having some trouble
with
their Frontier profile on my system here.
I wish the less expansive labs produced better quality and more
consistent
results, and had people to talk with when there are problems or
concerns.
But they don't .... so the custom and pro labs are the way to go. The
10x15 proof prints I last got cost $12.00 apiece, and they looked quite
good. I was able to clearly see where I needed to make improvements,
and
they were of excellent quality.
My only complaint with one of the labs is that one guy is a little
careless
with the dip and dunk machine, so he doesn't do my film any more. He's
been reprimanded, and is probably going to be out the door sometime
soon,
but for now I get a different processor guy.
Shel
[Original Message]
From: William Robb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Date: 6/21/2005 3:37:14 PM
Subject: Re: Are your photos too good?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shel Belinkoff"
Subject: Re: Are your photos too good?
Hi Bill,
As said in an earlier message, a copied photo is pretty obvious. But
I
was
talking about film, scanned images on CD, and those images on memory
cards.
Therin lies the problem for us.
It's pretty easy too scan a picture, twonk it around in Photoshop
(even
the
junior imaging programs will do well enough) for a while until it
looks
good, and plonk it onto a CD or memory card.
If you've done a scan from a neg or slide, you can provide the
original
as
proof of ownership, but this is often more difficult to prove with
digital
only work.
I mention corporate mentality - and maybe that was not the best
descriptive
choice of words - but the big operations are the ones with the deep
pockets
and the ones, as has been mentioned here, that are most open to
lawsuits.
In addition, at least here, the Wal-Marts and the Ritz and the Wolf
camera
places have, for the most part, no real personal relationship with
their
customers, and, from what I've been able to ascertain, no amateur
who is
serious about his/her work, and certainly no professionals that I
know,
would use these shops, in part because the staff changes frequently
and
the
quality and service is very poor. And, of course, there's no such
thing
as
custom processing and printing, or making of large prints, or getting
custom printing or scanning services. So the only people these
places do
work for are the home snapshooter and , imo, the low-end amateurs.
Sadly for my market area, the last of the custom labs closed shop last
fall,
and I now know of only one pro photographer in this area still running
his
own lab/darkroom for his own work, and it looks like he is shutting
down
that end of his operation in the near future.
I presume the film market is still healthy where you are?
I really don't think the digital shooter needs a high end custom photo
lab
like the old days.
I can take a file from my camera, do what needs to be done to it at
home,
and submit a finished file to the lab, all ready to go.
It's plug and play printing.
As long as the lab can provide fairly consistent colour balancing from
day
to day, it doesn't even matter if the operators know how to print.
I try to have a good relationship with my customer base, and it pays
off
for
me. I've taught my better customers how to get better pictures by
profiling
their equipment to match mine and by making intelligent image
settings.
OTOH, I seem to be the only tech in the place that actually has a
client
base.
William Robb
The places I use know their customers and, perhaps, their customers
don't
try copying the work of others. I'll ask Mo about this today or
tomorrow,
when I next see her. I'd like to know what, if any, policy her lab
has.
